Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Big Snook From The East Coast

My buddy Paul Murray sent me this photo yesterday of one of the prizewinning snook he's caught on the flats near Stuart, Florida. This part of the east coast is famous for huge snook and produces some of the biggest in the state. Stuart was also hit hard by last winter's freeze, just like we were here on Pine Island, but despite all the doom and gloom predictions their snook population is doing just fine. Can't wait to head over there and land one of these for myself.

As you can see by the name on the platform in the background, Paul runs a skiff built by Release Boats called the Classic 15. This is a cool little skiff that uses the lap strake construction method that isn't seen very much anymore. Fans of the classic Willy Roberts or Hewes series of boats, before they were bought and redesigned by Maverick, will recognize this style. I've seen one of these Release 15's in person and they're real head turners.

Welcome to the Pine Island Angler. This blog is published from my home base on beautiful Matlacha, Florida where I run my guiding business Wildfly Charters. I started this site to provide regularly updated news about salt water flats fishing throughout Southwest Florida, the Keys, and many other Stateside and Caribbean locations. As a full time guide since 1995 I'm always looking for that next undiscovered spot or secret fly that will lead me to even better fishing and I'm happy to share what I find here on this site. I welcome any of your comments on all of my posts. Feel free to contact me with any questions by e-mail at gmckee1@hotmail.com or call me directly at (239)565-2960. Capt. Gregg McKee